Pats disappointed that road to Super Bowl will be rockier

By TIM BRITTON

Monday

Dec 17, 2012 at 6:31 PM

FOXBORO — When the Patriots took the field for the opening kickoff Sunday, they looked to be in prime position to claim home-field advantage throughout the playoffs for the third straight season. Nearly...

FOXBORO — When the Patriots took the field for the opening kickoff Sunday, they looked to be in prime position to claim home-field advantage throughout the playoffs for the third straight season.

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Nearly four hours later, once San Francisco’s Delanie Walker corralled New England’s last-gasp onsides kick, the Patriots were staring at a considerably more difficult path to New Orleans.

New England’s 41-34 loss to the 49ers halted their seven-game winning streak and, combined with Denver’s dominant win in Baltimore earlier in the day, placed the Patriots behind the Broncos in the AFC hierarchy. If the playoffs started today, the Pats would be the third seed, in all likelihood having to win road games in Denver and Houston to get to the Super Bowl.

“It’s just disappointing that we lost,” safety Steve Gregory said. “The seeding and all that will play out how it plays out. We’ve still got a few games left here.”

“Not even thinking about the playoffs right now,” defensive end Rob Ninkovich said Monday. “Just focusing on the next two games here.”

At first glance, those next two games are eminently winnable for the Patriots. They travel to 2-12 Jacksonville this Sunday before hosting the 6-8 Dolphins on the final Sunday of the season. New England has never lost a regular-season game to the Jaguars — the Pats did drop a playoff game on Jan. 3, 1999, in north Florida with Scott Zolak under center — and has won nine of its last 11 home games against Miami.

Beat the Jaguars and the Dolphins, and the Patriots are guaranteed nothing worse than the third seed. But to climb to second to receive a precious first-round bye, New England needs the Broncos to drop a home game to either the 5-9 Browns or the 2-12 Chiefs.

Any designs on claiming the top spot in the conference for the third straight year require one Denver loss and two by the Texans, who host the Vikings and visit Indianapolis to close the season.

The Patriots have beaten both the Broncos and Texans at Gillette this season. But winning on the road in the postseason, even as it has become more commonplace in recent years, is far from easy. New England hasn’t advanced to a Super Bowl without the benefit a bye since the halcyon days of Raymond Berry and Tony Eason.

Even in this era with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, the Pats have won a grand total of three playoff games on the road (in five tries, none of which have come since 2006).

“We haven’t thought about that,” Brady said after the loss to San Francisco. “What’s in our control is winning football games.”

Who the Patriots might meet in a wildcard game at Gillette is a more complex question. Right now, Cincinnati holds the sixth and final seed in the AFC, a game ahead of the Steelers and Jets in the loss column. The Colts sit at 9-5, in fifth position.

This is all getting a little ahead of ourselves. A surprising loss to either the Jaguars or Dolphins could slide the Patriots behind the Ravens back to the fourth spot.

On Monday, New England was focused on correcting Sunday’s many mistakes in time for the trip south this weekend.

“I’d say we pretty much do the same thing we always do. We’ll look and talk about the game,” Belichick said. “We’ll talk about the things that we did right and reinforce those. We’ll talk about the things we did wrong and correct those. Once that’s over with, we’ll put this game to rest and move on to Jacksonville.”

Said Ninkovich: “It goes back to learning from your mistakes and still trying to build on what we have through the whole year.”

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